Music in Media: What We Have Known by Joanna Newsom

17 January, Monday, 10 p.m. | Winter

Rae didn't know what to make of the rivalry between the two green-haired youths. With them, the overly simple binaries such as right and wrong, true and false, were often easily thwarted. While this was merely their second or third encounter with each other, she could sense the asphyxiating tension laced between their feet. It stunk as much as it stung. The sandstorm and the dirt and dust from the battle were nothing to their conflict; those could easily be replaced, as Zorozoro had proven.

Speaking of proofs, Rae, as with everyone else in Driftveil, was patiently waiting for Icosa to unravel what makes N Harmonia other than it being—painfully obvious—his middle name. It was an otherwise superficial and malicious claim.

"I'm sure everyone remembers what happened with Team Plasma. It needs no recap," began Icosa, his head held high, his chest puffed up, his arms spread wide. "They sure had a noble goal of liberation albeit their execution was some of the poorest history has ever witnessed."

At this, he received several nods from the crowd. He inhaled and continued.

"They had stolen our Pokémon and thought to atone by returning them. They had summoned what they shouldn't have. They had tried to freeze us into submission. Tried to kill us all. And what for? Liberation?

"No. Revenge."

More thoughtful nods peppered the Gym. Rae glanced at N who remained silent. He did not speak, but his body cried loudly, his fists shook and unclenched, his gaze dipped. His face was all scrunched up the grimace he was trying to hide could only show itself red-handed.

"And what is the purpose of this music perversion now?" Icosa drummed his fingers against his chin and smirked. "Ultimate control."

Gasps spilled across the crowd.

"Control over our beings. Our lives. My friends and I have travelled across many cities and towns in Unova. We have witnessed firsthand the nasty ways of manipulation this Harmonia is capable of. Like a maestro. All who listen will be affected. None can escape, none can have autonomy.

"If it sounds cruel and unfair and despotic, it is exactly as it sounds. You here have all fallen prey to a lullaby. They have Meloetta in their clutches for this. My friends and I glimpsed zir. The Shadows have returned too. Each city and town will have their own malady. And it is up to me and my friends to restore Unova to its proper melody."

Applause swept the area though it was instantly silenced by Icosa's raised hand.

"Don't mistake my pause for my speech's end." A cold eye surveyed the countless heads and their hands till none moved. "What we have known may be attributed to the past. It is barely proof. However, we must remember what N has himself said earlier, that the very crown in our possession is the same crown he used to wear atop his sorry head.

"Call that coincidence? I think not. I call it manipulation. I do not believe in coincidences. Everything is engineered by someone or something."

"That's predestination!" shouted someone.

Icosa clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"We have no right to use such a dirty word. It is preposterous at best and absurd at worst. If you believe in someone's lies and tactics and call it predestination, call it fate..."

He sighed and paced about the battlefield. Everyone leaned forward with bated breath.

"... you make a damned fool out of yourselves." Icosa fished out a Poké Ball and released his Noivern. "Now, I'll tell you what is preordained.

"You may know from my appearance that I am not originally a Unovan. But my roots aren't your concern. N's, however...

"It's a known fact by now that he grew up with Pokémon, which was Ghetsis's intention, and that he was closest to his little Zorua which is now a Zoroark. I, on the other hand, grew up with my Noibat. I didn't know it was a Kalosian Pokémon. I don't remember how we met. But we had free will in our meeting and that was that."

Icosa returned Noivern to its Poké Ball.

"There is something else, of course. N and I are cousins."

He paused to judge the people's reactions. Confusion. Disbelief. Anxiety. All within his expectations.

"The Kalomiris family is unheard of due to the sheer supremacy of the Harmonia name. Or that's what they'd like you to think. Many of you here wouldn't have heard of this surname, would find it so exotic that you itch to turn it into a generic surname that is more palatable to you. You can't reduce us.

"I am the twentieth-generation Kalomiris. We are a generation of sons. That is to say, there has been miraculously no existence of a Kalomiris girl. Our hair is naturally chartreuse, does not change from white to chartreuse as we age like Natural Harmonia Gropius here.

"But of course, don't bother asking him. He would never have heard of me. We are always considered lesser humans anyway. Back when the Harmonias ruled Unova, the Kalomirises were their loyal servants."

Here, Lenora asked Hawes if he had heard of such a thing, to which the latter frowned with a pallor tinging his countenance. She then asked Calliope who seemed to always know more than she let on.

"Yes, he is right about that," Calliope admitted, "but this is often omitted in the textbooks. We don't talk about the Kalomirises."

"Why not?" pressed Lenora while Icosa proceeded to speak of Harmonia's benevolent rule of ancient Unova and how N let the legacy down.

Calliope wheeled herself closer to her. "It was said that after the Kalomirises stopped serving the Harmonias, their reign marched towards its demise, leading to the current state of the Abyssal Ruins."

"Why would the loyal servants do that?"

"Somewhere down the line, one of the Harmonias came home speaking of total liberation. That ended up being the new legacy that was pased down the generations."

"The Kalomirises were against the idea of liberation?" Lenora arched a brow.

Calliope shook her head. "The opposite, in fact. It's said that the idea came from them. However, they saw the conflicts it brought to the Harmonia family and stepped down their duties."

"That solves nothing and sounds very insensible."

"They tended to operate on wayward logic. Imagine Icosa's rationalism and stretch it to the extremes."

"I... see..."

As Lenora's voice trailed off, Icosa rounded up his speech. "So you see, N has now eaten his words and gone against liberation by returning the Pokémon to their Trainers. Living like an ascetic. Passing off as a hero just because the true heroes are far and away.

"And there is something else you must know. The most important of all: the Kalomirises were once the protectors of Meloetta. I wonder where zie is now..." He glanced at N who looked aside. "See that? It's his conscience speaking. That is the truth."

Icosa took a step back and smiled. "After all these years, we must have all realized the destructive power of Truths and Ideals. The battle has yet to end. Heed me and I will lead you to the Truth of this universe we live in. Trust me. My family and I have fallen prey multiple times to the wiles of the Harmonia lineage. So I will say it for the last time:

"Natural Harmonia Gropius is the one behind your suffering. I will now take my leave."

Icosa turned towards the doors, shouldered N as he passed him by and left.

Rae rubbed her temples and glanced at the Cheren and Lenora. They stared at her in disbelief.

With each passing day, she felt less confident that she knew the boy she was travelling with. But he must have his reasons for hating N so much. His speech ended but his story was not yet over. This was barely the beginning.

Rae was about to run after Icosa like she did back then when N held onto her hand and gave her a firm look that begged her to stay and listen. Rae yielded and their hands fell. She dared not turn to face him. This was chaos all over again.

N took Icosa's spot and the crowd shifted their weights, looking all antsy and annoyed.

"Everyone, I understand your anxieties, but stop to hear your Pokémon. They want you to return to your ideal selves, your true selves. Years ago, I advocated for the liberation of Pokémon from humans. Now, I see it. Humans are the ones who need liberation.”

Shouts erupted like landmines and a whole slew of attacks spiralled towards N. He merely widened his eyes with a grin. Rae gasped and froze in place.

As the combined Pokémon attacks reached him, N looked serene as a picture.

Rae's heart crumbled at the sight. Cheren grabbed her as her knees buckled.

An explosion broke the Gym's roof.

Silence.